Six New Lay Ministers in Post

Four lay ministers newly admitted and licensed and two others welcomed into the Diocese.

Four new Lay Ministers were licensed at a special service at Salisbury Cathedral on Saturday by the Right Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury. Two others were welcomed to work in the Diocese of Salisbury having recently moved here from other parts of the country. All six will work in churches in different parts of Dorset and Wiltshire.

Licensed Lay Ministers, known as ‘Readers’ in many other parts of England, are lay people, called by God, trained and licensed by the Church to preach, teach, lead worship and assist in pastoral, evangelistic and liturgical work.

Judy Anderson, the Acting Warden of Licensed Lay Ministers, attended the service and said, “I’m hugely passionate about lay ministry in the Church. I am a Licensed Lay Minister myself, and find it immensely rewarding – there are 200 Licensed Lay Ministers in the Diocese of Salisbury and over 9,000 across England.

“They carry out a wide range of tasks, most obviously leading worship and preaching, while in some cases their ministry is rooted in the community or in the workplace rather than in the life of the local church.”

As well as commissioning new Licensed Lay Ministers, dozens of existing LLMs renewed their commitment at a Service of the Word, designed on the Diocese of Salisbury’s priorities of Pray, Serve and Grow.

The new Licensed Lay Ministers, and the parishes they are licensed to serve in, are as follows: